ALRC-CWS-27-09-2014 September 4, 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Twenty seventh session, Agenda Item 3, General Debate A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre BURMA / MYANMAR: Features of the practice of torture by law enforcement agencies 1. The practice of police torture in Myanmar remains unchanged despite the efforts and work of countless individuals across the globe. The practice of such human rights abuse in Myanmar predates recent political changes and continues even after government reform. Myanmar citizens expected the new government to move away such human rights abuse. Earlier this year, the Government of Myanmar planned and discussed signing the Convention against […]
Category: Human Rights Council
NEPAL: Council should exert pressure to abolish Haliya practice, a form of slavery
ALRC-CWS-27-08-2014 September 3, 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Twenty seventh session, Agenda Item 3, General Debate A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre NEPAL: Council should exert pressure to abolish Haliya practice, a form of slavery 1. There are an estimated 3 million Dalits who have been facing the problem of untouchablity and caste-based discrimination in Nepal. In Nepal, 76% of the population depends on agriculture, and land is their major survival asset. However, 9% of the elite hold 47% of the cultivable land. On the other hand, 67% of poor people have ownership of only 17% of the arable land, and 33% […]
PAKISTAN: End slavery and bonded labour
ALRC-CWS-27-07-2014 September 3, 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Twenty seventh session, Agenda Item 3, General Debate A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre PAKISTAN: End slavery and bonded labour 1. Pakistan’s constitution expressly prohibits all forms of slavery and forced labour. Article 11 deems slavery non-existent and forbidden; no law shall permit nor facilitate its introduction in Pakistan in any form; it prohibits all forms of forced labour and trafficking of human beings and the employment of children below the age of fourteen years in any factory, mine or in any form of other hazardous employment. The International Covenant on Civil and Political […]
ASIA: Arbitrary Detention
ALRC-CWS-27-06-2014 September 2, 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Twenty seventh session, Agenda Item 3, Interactive Dialogue with Special Rapporteur on Working Group on Arbitrary Detention A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre ASIA: Arbitrary Detention 1. Arbitrary arrest and detention take place in large numbers in most Asian countries, both under ordinary laws and anti-terrorism laws. 2. In Indonesia, the law allows any person arrested for any crime to be detained for 90 days in police custody without access to a judicial officer. Over the last five years or so, there has been considerable agitation for the abolition of this law and for […]
NEPAL: Pressure needed in support of women forgotten in transitional justice process
ALRC-CWS-27-04-2014 September 1, 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Twenty seventh session, Agenda Item 3, Interactive Dialogue with Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre NEPAL: Pressure needed in support of women forgotten in transitional justice process 1. In the recent past, the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) and its sister organization the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) have continued to highlight myriad problems in the substance of the Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) Act passed by government of Nepal. However, given the nature of the violence during Nepal’s insurgency, and given […]
INDIA: Addressing Poor Sanitation & Access to Water a Must to Fight Disease & Child Malnutrition
ALRC-CWS-27-03-2014 September 1, 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Twenty seventh session, Agenda Item 3, Interactive Dialogue with Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre INDIA: Addressing Poor Sanitation & Access to Water a Must to Fight Disease & Child Malnutrition 1. The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) draws the attention of the Human Rights Council to the persistent problem of a lack of sanitation coverage for a majority of the Indian population. Estimates reveal that around 600 million people, or around 60% of the country’s population, defecate in the open. While […]
EGYPT: Dissolution Ultimatum for Independent Groups
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ALRC-STM-004-2014 August 30, 2014 A Joint Statement by the Asian Legal Resource Centre EGYPT: Dissolution Ultimatum for Independent Groups September 2 Deadline to Comply with Draconian 84/2002 Law (London, August 30, 2014) – Independent organizations in Egypt face a looming crackdown, 45 international and national human rights groups from across the globe said today in a joint statement. The Egyptian Social Solidarity Ministry placed an advertisement in leading state newspaper Al-Ahram on July 18, 2014, giving all Egyptian and international nongovernmental organizations until September 2 to register under Law 84/2002, a restrictive measure passed during the Mubarak rule. This law empowers the government to shut down any […]
SRI LANKA: Enforced Disappearances and Extrajudicial Killings
ALRC-CWS-27-02-2014 August 29, 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Twenty seventh session, Agenda Item 3, Interactive Dialogue with Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre SRI LANKA: Enforced Disappearances and Extrajudicial Killings 1. Although, technically speaking, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings are two distinct categories of gross violations of human rights, these two categories often overlap in Sri Lanka. Often, what get classified as enforced disappearances are kidnappings followed by interrogation, which often involve the use of torture and ill-treatment, followed by executions done in secret and, finally, the secret disposal of bodies. Despite several commissions looking […]
BANGLADESH: Justice not afforded to victims of enforced disappearance
ALRC-CWS-27-01-2014 August 29, 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Twenty seventh session, Agenda Item 3, Interactive Dialogue with Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre BANGLADESH: Justice not afforded to victims of enforced disappearance 1. The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) has made written submissions in the recent Sessions of the UN Human Rights Council on the prevalence of enforced disappearances in Bangladesh. To reiterate the overwhelming fact, victims of enforced disappearances in Bangladesh have no option of legal remedy from the criminal justice system. When this is reality, justice is simply a bridge too far. Article […]
PHILIPPINES: Failure of the court to prevent arbitrary detention
ALRC-CWS-27-05-2014 September 2, 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Twenty seventh session, Agenda Item 3, Interactive Dialogue with Special Rapporteur on Working Group on Arbitrary Detention A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre PHILIPPINES: Failure of the court to prevent arbitrary detention 1. The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) takes note of the opinion of the two reports of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (A/HRC/27/47 and A/HRC/27/48) on the role of courts in protecting persons from arbitrary detention. The ALRC agrees on the importance of the “right to challenge the lawfulness of detention before court as a self-standing human right (A/HRC/27/47, para 13),” […]